“We’ll all be keeping a closer eye on the neighborhood. You have my cell number. Page jabbed Mano in the ribs, “Give her your card.”
Mano squinted his eyes at Page and gave her a dirty look like he’d be getting even later for that jab. He handed Mrs. Miller his card. Of course, when he looked at her, he had his smile and his halo on.
Bastard. Page thought to herself.
If you see the truck again, call me,” Page patted her hand and got up to leave. They’d found out all they could for now. El Loco would probably stay away for now with the heat on. Page’s head was telling her that he would stay away, her gut was telling her she was dealing with a crazy man. There was no telling what he might do. Once again, she was glad to have a man crazier than El Loco in her bed. The man knew how to joke and keep her mind off what was going on, but Page knew he had a crazy switch that could be flipped in a moment’s notice. There was a side of her man she hadn’t seen yet, and she wondered if she’d be able to handle it when that side showed up. Both Antonio Wayne and Roxanne had warned her but seeing it firsthand would be something she wasn’t sure she was prepared for.
It was easy to believe the cartel men who looked hard were killers, but Mano had an easygoing way about him that made it hard to believe he was hired Sicario when the Ramirez brothers needed him. Hopefully El Loco would underestimate him, it would be his downfall. Page wondered if El Loco knew he was dealing with the child of a man he’d done business with. Would it make any difference to a man with no mercy?
Chapter Twenty Nine
Roxanne turned around and looked at her husband from where she was working at her desk. “This blog is really good. I’m surprised—this girl can write her ass off.”
All she got was a grunt for an answer. Even though he was a man of few words, he usually let her know what was going on.
“What’s on your mind, Tony?”
“I just got word El Loco killed Page’s neighbor. He broke into her house and moved shit around. Mano thinks the neighbor saw him leaving, and he didn’t want to leave witnesses. Sadly, an old woman had to die for nothing.”
Roxanne knew that even though her husband was a coldhearted bastard, he had a soft spot for senior citizens, kids, and animals. Roxanne shook her head in disgust, “He’s just killing people to kill them.”
“No, he’s sending a message to Page. I’m wondering if I need to get involved.”
“It will send the message to Mano; you don’t think he can handle things. Is that what you want?”
“You’re right. No, it isn’t what I want. If things get too intense, I’ll have to step in.”
“Right, but in that situation, he isn’t going to feel like you don’t have faith in him. You don’t ever want to do anything to fuck-up a man’s confidence. It’s his woman, so let him deal with it how he sees fit.”
Antonio stood and strode over in her direction, the look of a predator in his eye. When he stood in front of her, she ever so slightly eased her hand over his cock. He immediately got hard.
“So… Roxanne wants to make it all better.” His eyes stared into hers as if looking for an ulterior motive. “Why would you want to do that, Roxanne? Does the thought of me being in a bad mood scare you? Perhaps Roxanne is making sure she stays on my good side.” It was a taunt, and they both knew it. He grabbed her arm so swiftly she never saw it coming when she turned to walk away. He pouted his lips out, antagonizing her.
“Aw, is Roxanne mad? Poor wittle woxanne.”
“You know what, Antonio!?”
“Oh, so now I’m Antonio and not Tony. You’re so mad.
“What are you going to do to me?” His hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of hair. He pulled her face so close they were almost nose to nose.
“Just forget it, Tony!”
He ran his tongue up the side of her face just to piss her off.
“Damnit, Antonio!” she hissed.
“Uh, uh, uh,” he made a tutting sound with his mouth. Hm, let me see…or would it be tsk, tsk, tsk?”
“I don’t give a fuck if it’s ‘uh or tisk’—how about uhtisk. Fuck it, we can just say tiskuh—what-the-fuck-ever!”
He pulled her face back and slightly cocked his head to the side, studying her.
“Oh, so now Tony is trying to figure out how to deal with his woman.”
“Brave little cage fighter.”
His hand was around her throat, so quickly, she gasped in fear. She could see the sparkle in his eye as soon as it manifested.
“On. Your. Fucking. Knees. Slave.”
She dropped to her knees so quickly he chuckled—if you could consider a sinister laugh a chuckle.
“I like you better down there where I can look down at you. Look up at me now.” It wasn’t a request. It was a mandate.
“You want my cock? Look at me. I asked you a fucking question.”
She looked up at him through long lashes and angry fear-filled eyes.
“Answer me, girl.”
“I did.”
“Roxanne’s mad and doesn’t want to play now,” he said in a baby voice. “I guess you have a dilemma then because I do. Did you start something you can’t stop? Unzip my zipper with those high-dollar porcelain veneers I had put on your teeth, girl.” He reached down, smearing the lipstick off her face. “I don’t want lipstick on my bespoke suit pants. You gotta problem with that, Roxanne?”
“Oh…I gotta problem with a whole lot of shit you do.”
“Then I guess you’ve got a fucking problem.” He glared down on her. “Don’t get it twisted and think you’re going to make your problem, my fucking problem. Is it twisted? I just need to know so I can untwist it.”
When she kept looking up at him and wouldn’t say anything, he said: “I didn’t think so. I’m waiting. If you so much as graze me with your teeth…it’s dungeon time.” He threw his hands dramatically to his head like a girl, “Squee. Big fun.”
“Yeah, Tony—big fucking fun.”
“Get crack-a-lackin-girly.” He raised his eyebrows looking down on her, “Remember…no biting,” a point of his finger at her to emphasize each word.
She glared up at him and leaned in, pulling his zipper down with her teeth.
“Wow. That was fast. You’re getting pretty good at that.”
She cocked her head to the side and sneered her lip,
“Well, you know me, Antonio: I aim to please.”
“Oh, you’re going to please me. The question is: Am I going to please you. That smartass mouth of yours may have cost you…well, let’s just say, hm, a happy ending.”
“Well, we all know we wouldn’t want to disrupt the ‘Happily ever after,’ in my sordid fairytale.”
“You have made a very valid point:” his face changed to cold granite, “you, and your little friend stole from the Ramirez brothers, and now I own you. Smart little girls don’t steal from cartel. While you’re down there, kiss the top of my highly polished and very well taken care of Italian leather shoe.”
“Good thing my lipstick’s off,” she smirked and kissed his shoe. She didn’t want to piss him off too bad. One torture session she’d been in, he’d made the guy lick the bottom of his shoes clean.